Stanley Cup ratings go cold

A seven-game series between the teams with the best two regular-season records,
along with the ultimate sports feel-good story in veteran Ray Bourque's quest for
the Stanley Cup, did not lead to growth in television ratings for the NHL, as ABC's
average ratings for the finals dropped 11 percent from a 3.7 to a 3.3.

The ratings were helped by the series going seven games, compared with six games
last year. The final game posted a series-high 4.2, equal to 4,268,000 television
households. It beat NBC's Saturday night movie June 9.

But Game 7 still ranked as only the 66th-rated prime-time program for the week
of June 4-10. Game 5, which posted a 3.1, was ahead of only four other prime-time
programs for the week on ABC, NBC and CBS.

The Stanley Cup Finals telecasts held their own in the male 18- to 34-year-old
demographic group, a key target audience for advertisers that league officials often
point to as the true measure for NHL hockey. Across both ABC and ESPN, ratings for
that group inched up in the single digits.

Regarding the overall ratings, "I think they're good numbers for hockey, but
marginal in the scheme of what ABC has to deliver," said Mike Trager, president
of SFX Television Group.

By contrast, the first three games of the NBA Finals were the three highest-rated
television shows of the week.

"Luckily for the NHL," Trager added, "this is a time of year when you can put
low-rated programming in and not have a dramatic effect, because ratings are so
low across the board this time of year."

Last season's Stanley Cup ratings were difficult to equal because two games went
into multiple overtime periods in 2000, with ratings increasing by the hour. Prime-time
ratings this year were identical to the year before. But the five games that aired
on ABC this season also posted lower ratings than the three Stanley Cup Finals games
shown on Fox in 1999, which averaged a 3.4.

ESPN also showed declines during this year's playoffs, down 12 percent for the
36 games it aired in total, to a 0.98. But the drop was negligible for the two Stanley
Cup Finals it aired, a 1.91 compared with a 1.96 last year, and ratings for 24 early
round games that aired on ESPN2 were up 4 percent.

An ESPN programming executive said NHL ratings were in line with expectations.

"When we look at the last barometer, the conference finals, we were even with
last year despite both series only going five games," said Mark Quenzel, senior
vice president of programming at ESPN. "In the early rounds, you suffer a little
when good teams lose early. Detroit [which was upset in the first round by the Los
Angeles Kings] traditionally gets the highest ratings for us."

He said the key to growing NHL ratings is showing games in consistent time slots.

To that end, ESPN will air regular-season NHL games mostly on Wednesday nights
next season, a winter complement to ESPN's Wednesday night baseball coverage, he
said. But for the playoffs, Quenzel said it's a question of building an audience
that has a keen interest in the teams and players who are competing, a process that
takes time and substantial effort.

"I do think there's room for significant ratings growth long term. But it's a
battle. We need to have more teams and more players that are recognizable going
in."

Bourque, who hoisted the Stanley Cup for the first time after 22 years as one
of the NHL's best defensemen, was a focal point of the ABC broadcasts, but his story
never quite sizzled its way off the sports pages.

"It was a great emotional story, but I bet if Ray Bourque walks down the street
today, most people aren't going to recognize him," Trager said.